


The Cowboy on the Hero Posters

by misscai



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Flirty McCree, Fluff, Hallway Fights, Sandwiches, The Cowboy Hat, but FUTURE lovers, well not lovers yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 02:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7916848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misscai/pseuds/misscai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>New Overwatch recruit Kate is none too impressed with a certain Jesse McCree--in fact, "hate" is probably accurate. It takes some cursing, some accusations, a little hand-to-hand hallway wrestling and a cowboy hat to fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cowboy on the Hero Posters

**Author's Note:**

> daaaaaaaaaaaaamn cai, back at it again with the overwatch OCs.

Kate only ever ventured into the gym when the rest of the new Overwatch team were gone on missions. She wasn't necessarily out of shape—she'd kept up a decent exercise routine throughout her university years and after—but she certainly wasn't the pinnacle of fitness either. Not like Aleksandra, certainly. If it was possible, Kate would never be caught lifting weights beside the Russian woman. Her little twenty-pound kettlebells would look pathetic.

A streak of blue flashed into the room as Kate was rolling up her yoga mat. Lena bounced around beside her, throwing playful punches at her friend.

“Have we got some stories for you!” She grinned widely, adrenaline still buzzing through her veins. “You want lunch? I'll tell you over lunch.”

“Sure,” Kate said, laughing and barely managing to grab the strap of her gym bag as Lena looped an arm around her waist and tugged her to the mess hall. It must have been her group that got back early from running their operation, because Lucio was skating around the kitchen with bread and sliced deli meat to make sandwiches. He didn't speak to them when they arrived, his headphones blaring loud music directly in his ears, but he was quick to fix their lunch and set it on their table with a grin and a wink before skating off again. Lena wasted no time tucking in; Kate took a quick moment to retie her ponytail and put her glasses back on.

“Mind if I join you two lovely ladies?” The southern drawl came from behind Kate, and she grimaced into her sandwich as Lena nodded excitedly.

“Jesse was great today, Katie, you should've seen him! He got on top of a building and took out six people, one with each bullet!” Lena's sandwich lay forgotten on her plate as the British woman put on her best impression of the cowboy. “He was like, 'y'all got what's comin' to ya.' So cool.”

“ _So_ cool,” Kate echoed with a hundred times more sarcasm. She fully intended on ignoring Jesse as he sat with his sandwich on the other side of the square table, but Winston called Lena to the lab for adjustments to her pulse pistols, leaving Kate alone with Jesse.

“Hit the gym while we were gone, doll? You ever need a partner, you let me know,” he said, raking his gaze across her workout clothes. Kate scowled.

“I'm just fine on my own.”

“Ever do any sparring?”

“No.”

“Might do you good. Looks like you've got a whole lotta flexibility in that little body. Bet ya could get me in a headlock in a couple seconds.” He lifted his brows in question. “Wanna try?”

“I think I have a story to write,” she said, folding her napkin over her half-eaten sandwich and shoving away from the table, “about a lecherous, traitorous wannabe gunslinger who spends more of his time preying on the new recruit than he does actually trying to help the world.” She grabbed her bag, seething as she stormed out of the room.

Of course, Jesse followed her, his stupid spurs clicking as he chased her down. When his hand gripped her forearm and spun her around, Kate lashed out, her palm connecting with his cheek and knocking his hat to the floor. Jesse snarled, gripping both her wrists in his hands and pinning her to the wall. Her expression shouted murder; but his demanded answers.

“Now you just hold up, missy. I've had just about enough of your attitude.”

“Don't you dare talk to me like I'm a child, Jesse McCree.”

“Then stop acting like one, Kate Holliday.” He didn't release her when he stepped closer, just inches away from her now. “Now you're gonna tell me what kinda problem you've got with me, and we're gonna fix it.”

“I don't like you, simple as that. Let me go.” Jesse shook his head, flexing his grip around her wrists. Kate looked positively furious. “Let. _Go.”_ He leaned in, his lips just a hair's breadth from the shell of her ear.

_“Make me.”_

Kate drove her heel into his instep, taking advantage when he grunted in surprise and loosened his grip just enough for her to yank a hand free. She clawed at his other wrist, her blunted nails ineffectual. Instead she struck at his inner elbow, hard, until his arm buckled and she was able to get away. Her intention was to run—she was smaller, and could probably outlast him in a chase. But before she could take that first step, Jesse had seized the racerback strap of her exercise bra, hauling her backwards against his chest. She angled her elbows towards his ribs, jabbing him incessantly; Jesse just wrapped his arms around her and created a sort of straitjacket, restricting her movement and her breath. Kate swore viciously, cursing the days she skipped her muscle-building exercises in favor of more cardio. There was no way she'd be breaking out of Jesse's grip.

“I hate you,” she spat, kicking back at his shin for spite.

“Why?”

“Because you're a _coward!”_ Anger bubbled in her stomach, twisting around a deep-seated knot of hurt, of betrayal, that had existed in her for years. “You're a liar and a traitor and a deserter! You and that bastard Reyes!”

“What are you talkin' about?”

“Don't play innocent. You and Reyes joined Talon. People who hunted Overwatch— _your friends_ in Overwatch—and you helped them.” Jesse's grip slackened, and Kate shoved away from his chest but stayed within arms' reach, scowling up at him. He shook his head.

“I was never with Talon. Never helped those sons of bitches hunt Overwatch.” He'd thought that correcting her would get him off the hook, but if anything, her frown deepened.

“Then where were you?” Her arms crossed over her midsection defensively, like she was trying to hold herself together. The fight had drained from her, taking with it her carefully maintained barriers against him. “Just because Overwatch ended didn't mean the world was okay. We needed you.” She adjusted her stance, putting more ice in her voice. “And you left.”

“Blackwatch was on the fritz. There were some bad agents tryin' to take it over. I didn't like that, so yeah, I left.” He mimicked her posture, folding his arms across his chest and watching her face for any satisfaction from his answer. He found none.

“You were a mercenary. You weren't any better than the people we fight against now.”

“There ain't a one of us who's been one of the good guys all their life,” Jesse said, lifting an eyebrow. “I don't see you goin' after Genji and Morrison the same way you're comin' after me. They didn't pick up hero work right off, once Overwatch was ended.” He put his weight on one hip, looping a finger around his belt buckle in his characteristic cocky posture. “Am I somethin' special?”

“A special pain in my ass,” Kate said, but there wasn't as much venom behind her words as he would've normally expected. Jesse chuckled before going more serious.

“Really. Why do you hate me so much?”

“I don't,” she confessed after a long silence, wrinkling her nose like the words were sour to admit. “I don't hate you. I... I _missed_ you.” When he looked confused, Kate shook her head with a quick, breathy laugh. “When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the cowboy on the hero posters. I bought a hat and boots so I'd be a hero, too. But then the boys in the neighborhood were spray painting over the posters and beating up omnics, and the heroes never showed up to stop it.” She shifted her heels, avoiding his gaze. “They burned my hat when I told them you'd beat them up. When you didn't come, I guess I gave up.” Huffing out a breath, Kate rolled her shoulders back, putting her nonchalant demeanor into place once more. “I started taking things into my own hands. I would save every persecuted omnic that I came across, however I could do it. Whether that was writing sympathetic pieces for the major press outlets or taking a baseball bat to the local thugs, I did it. I didn't—I _don't_ —need you anymore.”

“I believe it,” Jesse said honestly. “Don't think you need anyone but yourself. Not even a handsome, devilishly charming gunslinger. But,” he stooped down, grabbing his hat off the floor and dusting it off, “if you ever want a hero, this cowboy's got your back.” With a crooked smile, Jesse plopped the hat onto Kate's head, playfully pulling the rim down over her eyes before striding off down the hallway.

Kate stood for a moment, vaguely stunned at the turn their encounter had taken. She swallowed hard, pulling the hat further down over her face to cover up the pink blush that crawled across her cheeks. Then she gathered her gym bag and headed for her room, ignoring the way that her heartbeat mimicked the rhythm of a certain someone's boot spurs.


End file.
